Akincana Gocara

Feeling dejected I walked back into the temple room to lick my wounds and feel sorry for myself for my misfortune. All of a sudden, I thought I began to hear my name being called… “Where is Mahananda. Srila Prabhupada wants to see him right away in his room.” TheseContinue Reading

There were only 5 or 6 of us there during those first months and we sat down three times a day and had to eat opulent rich food every meal. I mean, they only cooked for the Deities and there was enough for the devotees to just eat Maha. ThisContinue Reading

“The potency is just in the hearing,” we would tell them….”The better you hear attentively, the better the effect will be. Just listen to each sound and syllable and when your mind wanders to other things (trust me on this one–it will) just gently bring your focus back to theContinue Reading

We were so happy then. Each and every time you saw another devotee you were flat on the ground offering your obeisances and then you jumped up and hugged your godbrother whom you truly loved. Also in the early days you were always chanting 24 hours a day practically. IfContinue Reading

So there we were on Forest Ave in Detroit. The first thing that happened to us was that we were able to stop all drinking, smoking and drugs– instantly!! Somehow we were released from the bondage. Of course, twice the first week I had to go out on the backContinue Reading

When I first joined Srila Prabhupada in 1969, it was very easy to engage in Krsna consciousness. All you had to do was be at the temple. All hours of the day there were devotional activities going on and all you needed to do was join in. We understood fromContinue Reading

Everything is always changing in the material world. Values and morals are always changing according to the fickle nature of those captured by the three modes of nature. In the dual nature of this relative atmosphere, there are no conclusive realities but always there are two sides. So as aspiringContinue Reading

When we went to Srila Prabhupada in the beginning and complained about something strange in a godbrother’s instructions or actions,which seemed to not perfectly line up with what we understood as our spiritual master’s words, he would simply say “what do I say in my books?” So if we hearContinue Reading